ahp-edz: Karrzzzzzzzz (ai haz nun)

There isn't a link in this post. Don't look for it. You won't find it.

We've linked out quite enough to plenty of American heretical shit about how car culture is going to kill us all. Hell, we even got a little human on you and revealed that we plan on exiting said car culture ASAP.

I have been planning, since January of this year, to exit car culture as of July 4th, 2008. The date itself turned out to be purely coincidental, as I had a final appointment with my shrink on the third (just to catch up with the guy, because my shrink is somehow fully erroneously convinced I'm next Hemingway), and so the fourth of July was to be actually become my own sort of Independence Day.

While it was only coincidental, the charm of such a thing was not lost on me, and I quite looked forward to telling everyone that I cut the cord from my car on the day this country celebrates its first steps toward freedom from tyranny.

I was going to write a very proud and boisterous post, probably quite long-winded and full of itself. I would likely have been tangled up in the hubris of my own wealth of information and intellect, so happy with myself for seeing the writing on the wall. I can imagine myself being totally insufferable if such events had turned in my favor.

Fortunately for everyone, they did not. Not remotely.

What follows is a history of me getting rid of my car, unabridged and in dire need of editing:

Knowing I was going to be giving up my car soon, I had begun planning trips to Los Angeles (I reside in San Diego) to see many old friends. I planned these trips around things that were already happening, and I planned them in advance.

It bears noting that when I moved back to the west coast 18 months ago, a trip up to Los Angeles to see my friends meant that I was parting with a baseline of 30 dollars for a tank of gas. that was my jumping off point for "What this trip will cost."

The last time I went to Los Angeles, I had to take a friend to keep the baseline cost of gas near 30 dollars. It took 55 smackabuckafuckeroos to fill the tank of my car, a 12.x gallon Jetta. Manual transmission. No A/C the whole weekend.

I drive this car - this company car, mind you - to and from work daily to commute. I live far from where I work and am disinclined to own a vehicle. My job felt it was important for me to be in the office every day for the first year I was employed, so they provided me with a means of transportation. I believe they hoped that I would choose to buy a car of my own when all was said and done.

When I was given this car, it felt like a coronation of sorts, even as someone who has always had an aversion to car culture (but loves a good long road trip - one of the many things this recession has robbed young people of is their right to travel this whole country and see it firsthand). I knew that this car was nicer than any I'd ever known. I felt more important driving it. All in all, it just felt good to have that car.

I say this to illustrate that I am not trying to be holier than thou. I am not trying to say I am so good, but everyone else is so bad. I say these things to try to paint a human picture of what it was like to divorce myself from car culture. It's an odd thing, but more and more people you know are going to be doing it sooner than later.

The first thing that struck me, when I started speaking about getting rid of my car, was how many people just looked at me in shock or disbelief, as though I'd grown a spiraling horn from the top of my head and told them my taint smelled faintly of blueberries at all times.

I attempted to explain to people that I planned to move into the city center and utilize mass transit. California even offers businesses tax breaks if they promote use of mass transit among employees, so I could take the train to work for free. In the meantime, my roommate and I work within 10 miles of one another. Even in the worst case scenario in terms of gas usage, he and I each stand to gain 50 dollars a month in this deal.

Beyond that, I find myself rarely leaving my home to do things like eat at restaurants or spend money at a bar. One of the great functions of this recession is that you should have less money to go do things that require a car, therefore you should use your car less.

I would try to explain this to people, and I would say more than half understood my point of view and agreed that what I was doing was good. Some people are still really going to be shocked, but for the most part I see that people are sincerely waking up to the fact that we cannot live our lives the same way we've been living them for what.. 60+ years?

In what was likely the most stunning turn of events, my job didn't care. They gave me a car, for a year, and at the end of that year, I just gave it back (in need of an oil change, making a funny noise, and with one unpaid parking ticket, but that's neither here nor there) and told them I expected my schedule to shift accordingly.

Here's the kicker - they didn't say a fucking word.

In my opinion, my job has every right to be insanely pissed that they've just given me a promotion and a raise, after having given me a car for free for a year, and my response is to tell them they might experience a shift in my hours as I figure out how to live without a vehicle.

In my defense, I was saving money for awhile. Then I realized gas was going to be topping five bucks a gallon before 2009 (turns out WAY before 2009), and I had to 86 those plans.

If my job had raised issue, I would have simply told them that between my gas expenses (now running close to 300 dollars a month), on top of a car payment (150 dollars/month on any car worth having) and insurance (let's just say it's 150 bucks a month for total coverage), I'm looking at what amounts to a second living expense, just to drive around.

The fact is that had my job not provided me with a car for the past 12 months, I likely would have been forced to ask for a raise or quit and find a job that paid better.

And so, as of today, with little fanfare, no parade and shockingly no reprimand from my employers, I am exiting car culture. I know this is going to be a terribly rough transition, as I have surely grown dependent on my vehicle.

However, I truly do believe that the hardest part is over.